Chicago
For a post-war city, Chicago has a gigantic population numbering in the tens of thousands. This population is spread all across the various boroughs and "pocket towns" scattered throughout the steel skeleton of the once great city. As its population swelled, law and order declined. "Watch Marshals" as they called themselves, who were little more than vigilantes with a fancy name tag, were established to enforce peace at gunpoint. However these Watch Marshals did very little to stem the flow of criminal activity in and around Chicago. Overview Prior to the 23rd century, Chicago had been little more than disorganized groups of thugs shooting each other for crossing arbitrary turf lines. However, in 2203 a particularly nasty organization bubbled up to the surface: the Medrano Syndicate. The Medrano Syndicate was a familial criminal organization that had absorbed several smaller gangs into its organization. Big Jon Medrano, the founding patriarch of the Medrano Syndicate, settled his rag-tag group of dressed up thugs in the heights of Chicago. He and his gang moved into a tenement building, renovated it, and turned it into a post-war palace. Inside this building, most of the room's walls had been knocked down, turning what was once a collection of small apartments into a maze of rooms, kitchens, and closets. Many of the Medrano Associates, who don't live inside the Palace, often find themselves lost in its maze-like labyrinth of never ending rooms. In 2246, a group of raiders from The Troit moved in on Chicago, seeing it ripe for plunder. However upon arriving in Chicago they saw a unique opportunity to build a name for themselves. This group of raiders turned to organized crime, calling themselves "The Outfit". The Chicago Outfit prides itself on lacking nepotism found in other family-based crime organizations. Instead, advancement through the Outfit is theoretically determined by how much you provide for the group. Naturally in practice, it doesn't always work out this way but works enough of the time that many saw the Outfit as a way to climb out of the dredges. This "egalitarian" approach to crime led the Outfit to swell in rank, eventually pushing them beyond the other two major factions in Chicago. The last major criminal organization in Chicago, are the Old Town Boyz. The Old Town Boyz are a loose coalition of small-time gangs which banded together for protection against the two much more powerful groups. The largest difference between the Old Boyz and the rest, is that the Old Boyz don't often refer to themselves as such; the name was given to them by the Medrano Syndicate. Some of the Old Boyz take to the name but mostly they see it as antithetical to what it means to live in Chicago - freedom to do whatever the fuck you want, when ever the fuck you want. Boroughs The boroughs of Chicago are numerous and evershifting. Simply put, the Boroughs of Chicago refer to the small towns, settlements, and other inhabited territories that exist within Chicago. Chicago itself is a massive, towering steel maze filled with blasted out buildings and a seemingly never ending supply of people, chems, and sex. Rough count of the boroughs counted 26 different groups, but this number constantly shifts over the years, and the criminal families don't seem to really give enough of a shit to take a consensus. Criminal Families Medrano Syndicate The first group to rise in Chicago after the war, the Medrano Syndicate very closely resembles the italian mafia's of old. There is a central familial authority, led by the Medranos. From there, there exist Assoicates - families not yet merged into the Medrano family, but still command respect. Then, there's the Soldiers - paid muscle, goons, and street thugs that run the day-to-day grunt work of the Syndicate. = Chicago Outfit The Chicago Outfit takes its name from the Pre-War mafia family that once ruled the criminal underworld of the USA. It is led by the Dons of each family, who form a quasi-ruling council who convene at what is known as the Convention. Each of these major families command respect unmatched within the Outfit, and each Don is expected to bring new business opportunities to the table at each Convention. Conventions are held every 2-3 years, sometimes sooner if demanded. = Old Town Boyz There is little to be said about the Old Boyz. They were some of the first small-time gangs who ran Chicago before the Syndicate, and many believe they will be there long after. The Old Boyz are a decentralized criminal family who's only form of membership requires an O.T.B tattoo. This tattoo signifies that they adhere to the Old Town rules, and respect one another's turf and property.